


On the Second Day of Christmas

by ShanaStoryteller



Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2012 [2]
Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Fluff, Hulk gets crushes too, M/M, Poor Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 14:59:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanaStoryteller/pseuds/ShanaStoryteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They figured out the effects pretty quickly. They were rather hard to miss. The cause, on the other hand, ended up being a bit more obscure.</p><p>Until Tony kissed Steve.</p><p>Then the cause made itself pretty fucking obvious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Second Day of Christmas

A/N: Sorry about the long wait! I just finished finals, so hopefully it won't be a long for the next one! :)

*

They figured out the effects pretty quickly. They were rather hard to miss. The cause, on the other hand, ended up being a bit more obscure.

Until Tony kissed Steve.

Then the cause made itself pretty fucking obvious.

*

Hulk likes Tony.

It made sense - Tony was the first person to not only reach out to Bruce, but to the Hulk as well. Steve isn't afraid of Bruce the same way some - most - of SHIELD is, but he also doesn't have a lot of positive emotions associated with the big guy. He gives orders that the guy listens to, and that's about it.

Thor loves Hulk. He shouldn't really, considered how intensely he hates his brother, and yet Thor can muster only respect and admiration for the monster. Unfortunately, the Hulk has accepted him as an ally, as someone not to be smashed, and that's about it.

How Natasha reacts around, and about, the big guy is best not be discussed. It's not her fault, no one can blame her, and yet it's good that Clint is there, because he bridges the gap between her and the rest of the team.

Tony brought Bruce a monster from space, and Hulk smashed it. Tony fell from the sky, and Hulk caught him. When the big guy listens to no one else - not even Steve - all it takes is for Tony to take on the wheedling tone, and problem solved.

Bruce gets embarrassed about it for about five seconds until Tony rolls his eyes and drags him off so they can do science together. It's chill. Everything's fine.

Until.

*

"I am not talking about this."

"Tony -"

"No."

"Listen -"

"Uhg, God, no."

"Steve-"

"Steve is fine, I took care of it. His shoulder will heal within a few days." For the first time Tony's voice breaks, and he curses under his breath as he draws the structural beam at the wrong angle. He erases it, tries again, and fuck, doing this by hand is usually calming, but, just, fuck, "JARVIS, make this a 35.54 angle."

"Yes, Sir," he gets, and Christ, he must be a sight if his AI is even being nice. He's not an idiot - he knows that if doesn't shift the angle of at least three support structures, it's all going to come crashing down.

Sherry - short for Sherlock, because he ended up letting Darcy (who has been trying to get ahold of him for a couple days, he should probably take care of that) name him, what the actual fuck - starts nuzzling his pant leg, so he backs- up just a bit, and the sly little fucker jumps onto his lap, standing on his little hind legs so he can head butt Tony's arc reactor. Damn, but that's adorable.

Before he knows it, he's cupped Sherry to his chest and is rubbing a thumb from the top of the little guy's head to halfway down his spine, his soft purring and furious heartbeat opposing beats against Tony's own chest, where there is no answering rhythm.

Pepper tries again, slipping off her heels so she can more easily crouch down and wrap her hands around Tony's own shoulders, tipping her head to rest against his. "Tony."

"I know," he says, bringing the kitten up just bit higher to place a kiss atop his head. Sherry returns the favor, swiping his sandpapery tongue against Tony's chin. "Where are the others?"

"Coulson's with Steve in the kitchen, being a mother hen. Bruce has locked himself up in his room. Thor is standing guard, since Bruce won't let him in. Pretty sure Clint and Natasha were doing creepy spy sign language at each other in living room, but they've probably moved to the kitchen to by now." She squeezes him when she's done, placing a kiss on his cheek.

Fuck. Just - fuck. Tony admits that he makes really shitty life choices, see his entire life for references, but at least when he fucks up who he's supposed to love (Rhodey, Wayne, Pepper) he doesn't fuck it up entirely. He's pretty sure he'll add Steve to that list soon, because it's been like a week, and Steve can be slow sometimes, so he probably hasn't figure out that Tony is going to be his worst mistake. But they guy's not a moron, so it's going to occur to him sooner or later.

"Tony," Pepper says, quiet and pained, and fuck,

"That was out loud, wasn't it?"

She kisses his cheek again instead of answering. "You have to fix this."

"Why? I realize I'm the oldest kid in this sandbox, but anybody who thought that made me the adult is really fucking confused."

Pepper sighs, and moves so she's grabbing the hand not holding Sherry. "Come on."

*

Tony is perfectly aware he looks like a moron hovering the doorway to his own kitchen, in clean clothes but still covered in dry sweat and dirt from the battle, one hand holding a kitten and the other hand holding that of his ex-girlfriend / CEO, but surprisingly (not) he doesn't give a fuck.

"Tony," Steve says, face slackening with relief as he pushes up out of the chair and Pepper lets go of his hand to stand next to Phil. Tony holds the kitten in front of him like a shield, the first time he's seen Steve since patching up his shoulder and fleeing.

Kittens make terrible shields, in case you were wondering, because all it means is that Steve grabs Tony's face, jerking him forward to kiss him, hard and just a little desperate, and holy hell, Steve can't just fucking do that in front of all these people, in his fucking kitchen, when did Steve stop caring about shit like this?

He stops kissing him, but presses their foreheads together so he can stare into Tony's wide brown eyes. "Are you okay?"

Tony nods jerkily, but he's holding Sherry tight enough that he mewls unhappily. Tony immediately loosens his grip and takes a shuddering breath, putting the bit of space he needs between him and Steve. "So on a level from one to dead, how mad are you?"

Steve blinks, forehead creasing, "At you?"

Tony's pretty sure his eyebrows answer that.

"Tony. I'm not mad at you - or at Bruce, or the other guy, for that matter. That'd be dumb - it's not like I can't see what he sees in you, right?" Tony just keeps staring, because no way, and Steve cups Tony's cheek. Can he not do this in front of almost their entire team, Jesus, but he doesn't do anything to move it, either. "Is that what you were worried about? You weren't upset, or scared by - ?"

"Course not," he answers truthfully, "It's , I mean, it's Hulk, y'know? After watching My Little Pony with the guy, I only have so much ability to be scared of him."

"I noticed," Steve frowns. They may or may not have had a conversation about Tony putting himself in "unnecessary" danger, which Tony may or may not have nodded through while staring at Cap's lips.

"It wasn't me he wanted to hurt," Tony answers. Steve catches his lips again in a gentler, kinder kiss.

After that, he finally acknowledges the rest of the team with grin and a wave. Clint smirks, and Natasha is unimpressed.

"So," he says, "me and Steve are going to go talk to Bruce now. Bye."

"Don't you think we should be there too?" Natasha asks.

"Nope," he answers. "Steve's team leader, I'm his second, it doesn't involve you on a personal level, so no, not at all."

He doesn't give her time to respond before storming out in a suitably dramatic fashion, because in spite of the weird thing Pepper has going on, he really likes Natasha, he's letting her live in his goddamn house, but she's pretty much the last person on the planet he'd want there for this discussion.

*

When they get to Bruce's rooms, all he can think is Oh my God, does Thor need a hug. And because clearly Steve has zero ability to get jealous (or he's just very sure of his status of too good for Tony, and knows that since he's dating down as it is, Tony would be a first class idiot to cheat on him) he crouches down to do just that, and fuck, Thor is big.

Thor sniffles for a moment before returning the hug, tugging Tony down into his lap and squeezing. Okay this is embarrassing, but Thor being a huge girl/teddy bear isn't unusual. Still, the tears he can feel against his neck are a little much. "Thor?"

The god takes a shuddering breath before leaning back and letting go of Tony. He's still in Thor's lap, but the guy doesn't seem inclined to move him, so. "I apologize, Son of Stark, I have felt many weight upon my shoulders as of late, and Banner's turbulent emotions sadden me even more greatly."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asks, "These burdens you carry?"

Thor smiles, and as someone who has smiled in the same way before, Tony sees it as tinged with the kind of tiredness that gets into your bones. So he squeezes Thor's bicep - the bit of it he can get his hand around, anyway - and tries to look encouraging. He's not sure he's successful, but Thor beams at their efforts anyway. "Not at this time, but I thank you. I believe it is more prudent to calm dear Dr. Banner. He is most distraught, and refuses me entry way."

"We'll take care of it," Tony promises, and Thor gives him one more watery smile before jumping upright, and somehow managing to straighten Tony into a standing position as well.

He claps them both on the shoulder once more before turning heel and striding down the hall, calling back, "Good luck, friends!"

Steven and Tony shared a raised eyebrow before he uses one hand to twine he and Tony's fingers together, and the other to knock sharply on the door. "Bruce! It's Steve and Tony. Can you let us in, please?"

Silence

Tony huffs, before punching his override code into the door panel, "Bruce, we're coming in."

There's still no sound as they push the door in, and Tony feels his heart clench as the door shuts behind them. Bruce is still just as dirty from the battle as he is, but he's pushed his knees to his chest and his forehead to his knees, curled up in the center of his bed. He's wearing too loose sweatpants and a flannel shirt, which Tony totally recognizes as Bruce's comfort clothing, because he's too cool for comfort food, the other genius has to have comfort clothing.

He literally has no idea what to say, so you know what, fuck it, and he lets go of Steve's hand to literally run-jump-tackle Bruce on the bed, because he has worked way too fucking hard for his friends for this to get in the way.

Bruce makes a soft oof as he's sprawled across the mattress with Tony's body covering his own. Tony hears Steve snort, and absentmindedly flips him off while staring down Bruce.

"Hi," the other man says finally, managing a unique tone of amusement, exasperation, regret, and pain.

Oh my God, what is it with his team lately, don't they know that it's his job to angst and self - hate? Christ, they need to get it together.

"Hi," Tony says, "please stop freaking out, it's not that big of deal, and your still my favorite science geek."

Bruce's mouth gets in that stubborn line, and ugh, please no. "The other guy wants to marry you, Tony."

"Does he even know what marriage is?"

Bruce frown, "Hypothetically."

Tony rolls his eyes, and Bruce has stopped his little misery ball, but Tony's quite comfortable, and besides, this way Bruce can't run away (Rhodey and Pepper both may have employed this very same tactic on him a time or two). "So the Hulk has a school boy crush on me, it's fine. I'm fucking fabulous, you bet your ass the Hulk has a huge, gay man-crush on me. Who wouldn't?"

Bruce stares, "Do you even listen to yourself talk?"

"God no, that's what I have you people for. Anyway. Are we okay now? Can everyone stop freaking out?"

Bruce shifts a little under Tony, and for a second the other man panics, thinking that everything is not okay and Bruce is trying to get away from him. Instead, he's just trying to move so he can see Steve, and ask, "Are you okay?"

Steve shrugs, "Next time, instead of punching me for kissing my boyfriend, the Hulk and I can sit down and talk about all the reasons why Tony is adorable."

Tony squawks at that, rolling over so he can push himself upright to glare even as he can feel the relief coursing through him, "I'm not adorable, I'm a bad ass."

Bruce smirks, "I don't see why you can't be both."

Bruce and Steve grin at each other while Tony makes scandalized noises, and fuck, okay, this is okay.

Everything's okay now.

(Mostly.)


End file.
